Pakistan Delays Convening Parliament

Published 6:00 pm, Tuesday, November 5, 2002

Associated Press Writer

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan (AP) _ Pakistan's military government on Wednesday postponed the opening session of the newly elected parliament, pushing it back by a week.

The opening session had been set for Friday. The government of President Pervez Musharraf said the delay was in response to requests by some political parties and for logistical reasons, the state-run news agency reported.

Opposition leaders, however, said the delay was intended to give a pro-Musharraf party a better chance to form a coalition government. No party won a majority in the Oct. 10 elections.

Farhatullah Babar, a spokesman for main opposition group, the Pakistan People's Party, said the postponement was meant "to bolster the chances of the king's party," an indirect reference to the Quaid-e-Azam faction of the Pakistan Muslim League, which backs Musharraf.

The pro-Musharraf party dominates parliament with 103 of 342 seats. The Pakistan People's Party of former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto has 80 seats, followed by the United Action Forum, a grouping of Islamic parties, with 59. Smaller parties and independents together control the remaining 100 seats.

The Islamic alliance said it has reached an agreement with pro-democracy parties to form a majority coalition, and they have put forward a hardline Islamic cleric as their choice for prime minister.

The decision to put back the session followed a request by the pro-Musharraf party, and after a Cabinet meeting chaired by the president.

The session had been scheduled for Friday, but a government official confirmed it has been delayed by one week. The exact date of the opening session was not announced.

A spokesman for former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, whose party came in a distant fourth in the elections, criticized the delay. The government "has no respect for the mandate given by the electorate," spokesman Sadique al-Farooq said.

A United Action Forum spokesman, Ameerul Azeem, also weighed in on the postponement. "We condemn this," he said.